116 - The Final Surge (12.18.2020)

Friday episodes are supposed to be patron-only, but this one is all about coronavirus updates. And since we always push newspapers to take their public health reporting out from behind paywalls, we figured we'd make this one free for everyone.

First, the good news: An FDA panel endorsed Moderna's coronavirus vaccine Thursday afternoon, and it appears that this one is somehow even more promising than the Pfizer vaccine. We talk about what that means for California, and who is next in line to get their shots.

This news could not have come at a better time, as the virus is surging throughout the state. Southern California has the worst of it. In a region serving some 20 million people, hospitals are now officially out of ICU beds.

The state is now looking at what it would look like to make the vaccine available first to populations that have endured the most injustice in the past. While some in the indigenous, Latino and Black communities may have trouble trusting a US government that has given them every reason not to trust it, this could also serve as a solid example of what reparations-minded policy looks and feels like.

Sacramento County is at it again. The same people who gave $104 million of the county's CARES Act funding to the sheriff's department now want us to trust them with a new shell game. Faced with the need to spend the remaining $65 million before the year's end, county representatives plan to "temporarily" allocate some $50 million to the sheriff's and probation departments. When presented with pushback and concerns by community members, supervisors took on a deeply condescending tone.

Not a great first step in regaining your constituents' trust.

Thanks for listening, defund the police and, as always:

Twitter: @youknowkempa, @guillotine4you, @ShanNDSTevens, @Flojaune

And thank you to Be Brave Bold Robot for the tunes.